Concert Review - Against Me! Grand Rapids, Michigan 11/27/07

Against Me! have been one of my favorite bands for the last couple years, so i was extremely excited when i heard they were coming to my town. If you haven't heard of Against Me!, they're a folk punk band from Gainesville, Florida, and they are amazing. Although their last few albums weren't exactly the same "folk punk" that most people like about them, they were still great, and you have to give them credit for changing up their sound instead of releasing the same album over and over (like some bands do)... Anyway, i got my ticket, and went to the venue (the refinished basement of a small cafe) to go see them.

The first band that played (Cobra Skulls) were pretty generic and non too memorable... all of their songs sounded the same, and they kept ranting about the same political bullshit that everybody in the same "scene" already agrees with. Bush sucks - we get it (it's a shame people weren't speaking out sooner). They weren't terrible, but their show was a little boring.

The next band, World Inferno Friendship Society, were kind of like a watered down (and creepier) version of Gogol Bordello. They were okay, but their lead singer was fucking creepy. The crowd started moving around (attempting to dance) during their performance, and i suffered through a few minutes of a fat drunk lesbian slapping me in the face with her hair while she danced... not fun.

After World Inferno came Sage Francis... I had never heard Sage Francis before, and i was expecting a band. Instead of a band, some fat guy (sage francis) came out and started rapping... Yes, rapping... at an Against Me! show. What the fuck!? I felt violated. I will admit he was entertaining at first, but it got old quick. At one point during his performance, he spit some nasty snot on a shoe, and then licked it off... It was disgusting, yet hilarious to see everybody's reaction.

Finally, after suffering through all that, came Against Me!. I was right up front in the "smelly kids" area when they started. They opened with "Up the Cuts" from New Wave. It was awesome and very energetic show, and i soon got lost in the crowd singing and pushing. It was my third time seeing Against Me! live, and they put on a just as awesome show as before. I only wish they wouldn't have played as many songs from New Wave (more old stuff plz), and that it was longer. Bottom line - If Against Me! comes to a city near you, go fucking see them.

Nineties Kids! Ten Reasons Why Growing Up In The Nineties Was Great

I'm not saying that everything was great, but face it, the nineties was a fucking good decade to grow up in, and here are ten reasons why.

(yes, I'm a product of the nineties...)

10. Pogs - Remember pogs? I remember having some truly epic pog duels against my friends with my thick plastic slammer. I still have my collection of the little cardboard disks. My favorite one is my thick shiny slammer with a lime green skull printed on it.

9. Digital Pets - Who needs a real pet when you have a tamagotchi. Digital pets let you experience all the responsibilities (cleaning, feeding, and playing) without the cost or smell of a real pet! Fucking nice! Mine died years ago :( , but i still keep a place for him deep in my mind.

8. The Y2K Scare - There's no better way to toughen kids up than by scaring the shit out of them. Kids today are fucking pussies. They were either too young to care, or weren't even alive when Y2K was going down. The rest of us got the valuable experience of thinking the world was going to end. Fuck yeah!

7. I Spy Books - In case you don't know, I Spy books are the equivalent of crack to children. They're like Where's Waldo books, except they don't fucking suck. We used to literally fight over who got to check them out of the library each week.

6. The Internet - I know the internet was sort of around before the nineties, but the nineties were the true birth of the internet as we know it today. I got to experience the very early internet from a pretty young age. It changed me into what i am today, and whether that's a bad thing or a good thing i have no clue...

5. Less Overprotection - Everything designed for kids these days has to be %100 safe and boring just so that they wont hurt themselves, or break a fucking nail. It's not the kids faults though, it's their parents who threaten companies with lawsuits if their kid gets a bruise because he smacked himself in the face with his toy. Boo hoo, man up and get over it.

4. No "Emo" or "Scene" Kids - Scene kids = wannabe emos = wannabe goths = douchebags. The nineties were great because we didn't have to deal with annoying "emo" kids, or stupid myspace whores. There were goths, which are just as gay, but at least they're not as annoying.

3. Pokemon - Pokemon is the best hand held video game ever. Enough Said.

2. Cartoons and Kids Shows - The nineties was the best damn decade for kids shows and cartoons. These days all cartoons must have a good message to them, but in the nineties they just had to be entertaining. Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Pete & Pete, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Ren & Stimpy, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Solute Your Shorts, Rugrats, and Wishbone are just some examples of the great shows that graced the television of my earlier childhood.

1. Video games - Video games became great in the nineties. Super Nintendo and Genesis were fantastic. I used to play Super Mario World every day. And then Nintendo 64 came out which totally changed gaming forever. Super Mario 64 remains one of my all time favorite video games to this day. Playstation one was another great system. I remember playing the original Tomb Raider, and Final Fantasy Seven. Good fucking times. And if we wanted to play against somebody, we had to actually have friends over. Kids these days just bitch and moan over Xbox live.

So there's my list of why growing up in the nineties was awesome... if there's anything you disagree about, or think i should have added feel free to comment.

Gas Mask

I've recently started getting into stenciling and spray painting, so i decided to make a gas mask design that looks sort of like a stencil. As you can see, i decided to use it as a part of my blog logo... I'll be sure to post anything interesting that i paint here :)

It's available in a black version and red version, and each version is available on multiple colors of shirts.

Click For Black Version
Click For Red Version

Squid

I'm going to start trying to get better at drawing and stuff by posting a sketch or some sort of drawing everyday (or at leaset trying to...). Here's a squid thing i drew.

Holiday shopping for myself...

Threadless started their holiday promotion taday, and i couldn't resist buying this awesome shirt, which was on sale for $20, but I got it for $17 by using the 3 dollars off coupon code "rubberdanpants". Threadless is probably my favorite shirt site, they have the best designs.

I also bought a new hoody from American Apparel (the black and grey). It looks warm, and i love American Apparel clothes too, so i decided to get it.

Town Tees

Town Tees is a shop where i sell my drawings and designs on t-shirts, hoodies, bags, and more. All of my designs are completely original - you won't find them anywhere else - and make great gifts for anybody... Some designs are funny, some are artistic, some are cute, and some are geeky. So go and check out my shop :) And if you like something, buy it and help out a poor student (I need money for college) =] And feel free to leave me comments or suggestions about my shop too.

Click here to go toTown Tees